The article outlines the current budgetary situation, explains why consolidation plans are urgently needed and provides an answer to the question as to what form those plans should preferably take. It also contains an insight into the strategies aimed at consolidating public finances. The...

During the past fifteen years, financial markets in Latin America have experienced a major transformation. This process and its effects on the nature of risks and policy challenges in Latin America were the focus of a May 2007 conference in Mexico City sponsored by the Representative Office for...

By making simultaneous use of macro-economic data (from the national financial accounts) and micro-economic statistics (from the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) and the Central Individual Credit Register), this article takes a closer look at the evolution and distribution of...

It is increasingly recognised that fiscal rules and independent fiscal institutions other than governments and parliaments can make a major contribution to sound fiscal policy. The main arguments put forward by the specialist literature on political economy in favour of such rules and...

Economic recovery plans make up a important part of the wide-ranging package of measures that economic policy-makers worldwide have taken in response to the financial and economic crisis. More specifically, the EU Member States have either approved or announced fiscal measures to boost economic...

In the past few years it has become painfully clear that the financial markets’ loss of confidence confronting certain euro area countries can swiftly spread to other Member States, ultimately threatening the orderly functioning and stability of the euro area as a whole. Back in 2007, before...

Increased interest rate volatility in recent years has led to a greater volatility in profits at savings and loan associations. To help stabilize their profits, some S&L's are implementing interest rate hedging programs. These programs use financial instruments such as interest rate swaps,...